Recycling and Trash FAQs

If Fairfax County collects your trash and recycling, use the County Collection Customer tab for customer specific information. Use the Residents tab for information relevant to all Fairfax County Residents. If you are unsure who provides your service, visit Who Collects My Trash for more information.

Residents

See the Residential Materials Index for a list of all items that can be recycled or disposed of in Fairfax County. In addition to common recyclables, you will find information about recycling computers, motor oil, packaging peanuts and much more!

The only types of plastic that are required to be recycled in Fairfax County are plastic bottles and jugs. Some companies also collect additional plastics (e.g., margarine tubs, yogurt containers) at the curb. Participation is voluntary. Contact whoever picks up your trash for more information.

Fairfax County collects trash and recyclables from over 44,000 homes located in Solid Waste Collection Areas. This county service is obtained through a petition process. Call 703-324-5230, TTY 711 for more information. See also Who Picks Up My Trash?

Please contact the private company that collects your trash and recyclables directly. If you are unsure who collects your materials (e.g., you live in a townhouse or condominium), contact your homeowners association or building manager.

Call us at 703-802-3322, TTY 711 and tell us the name of your street. We will look in our records to see if your street is serviced by the county or by private collection companies. We can then give you further instructions.

Residents are encouraged to set out their trash by 6 a.m. on collection day. Bundled materials may not exceed four feet in length; no bundle or trash container may exceed 50 lbs. Trash must be set out separately from recyclables.

No. According to Sect. 108.1-4-1 of the Fairfax County Noise Ordinance, trash collection is prohibited in residential districts and/or within 100 yards of a residence between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. If a trash or recycling truck is loading or unloading materials in your neighborhood before 6 a.m. or after 9 p.m., they are in violation of the law. To report them, call 703-324-5230, TTY 711 during office hours (8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., Monday – Friday). If possible, have descriptive information about the truck, such as company, color, truck number, license plate, etc. This will assist us in investigating your complaint.

No person may dispose of solid waste on any private or public property without the permission of the owner. This prohibits illegal dumping in commercial building dumpsters or any site not designated for disposal use by the general public. If you witness release of petroleum or other flammable or hazardous materials, call 911. If you see anyone dump nonhazardous solid waste, record the vehicle license number and call the Fairfax County Police nonemergency number at 703-691-2131, TTY 703-204-2264, to report the violator. If you find illegally dumped material on public or private property, but did not witness the dumping, call the Department of Code Compliance at 703-324-1300,TTY 711, or submit a complaint online. To identify the property owner, go to the county's Real Estate Assessment Information Site.

Yes. Through the Clean Streets Initiative, the county's Solid Waste Management Program and the Health Department are working to address this issue. Under Clean Streets, the property owner is notified that the trash must be removed. If the property owner does not remove the material within 10 days, the county will remove it and bill the property owner. If the property owner refuses to pay the county for the removal of the material, a lien is placed on the property. Call 703-246-2300, TTY 703-591-6435 to report a property under the Clean Streets Initiative program.

Hundreds of thousands of recyclables are collected annually in Fairfax County. See our online tonnage chart for the latest data. Once collected, recyclables are transported to a materials recovery facility for sorting and packaging. Finally, they are sold to manufacturers to make new products.

County Collection Customers

These questions are specifically for County Collection Customers. Use the Residents tab for information relevant to all Fairfax County Residents

Fairfax County collects trash and recyclables from over 44,000 homes located in Solid Waste Collection Areas. This county service is obtained through a petition process. To determine if your home is included, visit Who Picks Up My Trash? or call 703-802-3322, TTY 711. For more information, visit County Collection Customers.

Call us at 703-802-3322, TTY 711 and tell us the name of your street. We will look in our records to see if your street is serviced by the county or by private collection companies. We can then give you further instructions.

Residents are encouraged to set out their trash by 6 a.m. on collection day. Bundled materials may not exceed four feet in length; no bundle or trash container may exceed 50 lbs. Trash must be set out separately from recyclables.

The county offers a special collection service for the removal of oversize waste known as MegaBulk. This program is designed to help residents remove whole trees and very large loads of waste from their properties – including construction and demolition waste. To learn more about the guidelines for MegaBulk service visit MEGABULK Pick Up. To schedule a MEGABULK Pick Up, call 703-802-3322, TTY 711.

Businesses and Disposal Companies

Yes you may. Simply ask a staff member for a ticket as you drive your vehicle across the weight scale at the I-66 Transfer Station or I-95 Landfill Complex. There is a $5 fee for the receipt for commercial customers.

Responsibility for establishing an adequate recycling system rests with whatever party writes the contract for trash service – this could be the building owner, the property manager, or the tenant occupant. Businesses can also self-haul recyclables to any county drop-off center for free.

If you need assistance in setting up trash or recycling at a business property (including a multi-residential complex), please contact the Solid Waste Management Program at 703-324-5230, TTY 711. We offer onsite evaluation, system analysis, and educational/outreach support.

Your business can contract with any company that has a certificate to operate from Fairfax County to collect trash or recyclables. Collection companies without a certificate to operate are in violation of the law.

All trash and recyclables must be removed from the premises at least once weekly.

Your business may not set out trash for collection in a bag. All commercial trash must be stored in a sturdy, leak- and rodent-proof container.

Trash may not be collected in an open top container. This includes roll-off boxes and construction/debris dumpsters.

Trash and recyclables may not be collected together in the same container. So-called “one box” service where trash and recyclables are collected in a single dumpster, compactor, or other container to be sorted at another site is illegal.

Any dumpster within 150 feet of a residence may not be serviced between the hours of 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.

For more information about these rules, please consult Chapter 109.1 or call 703-324-5230, TTY 711.

To report a violation or concern to Fairfax County about your service provider, please use the Solid Waste Complaint/Comment Form or call us at 703-324-5230, TTY 711 during office hours (8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Monday - Friday). If possible, please have descriptive information about the truck such as color, truck number, license plate number, etc. This will assist us in investigating your complaint.

Owners or property managers must provide annual notification to tenants about their recycling system.

Nonresidential properties must have a recycling plan.

Certain nonresidential properties must recycle materials in addition to their principal recyclable material.

An annual recycling report is required from certain properties or generators.

Cardboard recycling is required at construction and demolition sites.

For more information, see nonresidential recycling and trash as well as section 4 of the Recycling Program Requirements Guide. Also, be sure to check out our information for employees, business tenants and property owners and managers.

A principal recyclable material is the one that occurs in the largest quantity (by weight) in a property's waste stream. It typically varies by business type. For example, in an office building, the principal recyclable is usually mixed paper. For retail stores, warehouses or food service operations, it tends to be corrugated cardboard and/or mixed paper; for auto repair and maintenance, it may be scrap metal or used oil. Additional details can be found in Section 4 of the Recycling Program Requirements Guide under "Certain nonresidential properties must recycle additional materials."

If you are unsure of the correct principal recyclable material for your building or complex, you should analyze the waste stream. This can be as simple as taking a visual survey of your trash, or can be as involved as sorting, weighing and measuring the volume of all the materials in your waste stream. (Note: If you own several small businesses, calculate the principal recyclable separately unless the businesses are located alongside one another such as in a shopping center.) For additional assistance, please contact the Solid Waste Management Program at 703-324-5230, TTY 711.

If you lease a business space that is part of a shopping center, your property owner is responsible for identifying the principal recyclable for the entire property and for implementing the necessary procedure for collecting mixed paper, cardboard, and the additional principal recyclable material.

If you own a business space that is part of a conjoined building, you are responsible for establishing a recycling procedure for your own business to collect mixed paper and cardboard; and, if applicable, for identifying and recycling an additional principal recyclable material.